2nd blizzard bearing down on Plains region

DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) -- A second major winter storm is bearing down on the central Plains, forcing cancellations and sending public works crews scrambling for salt and sand supplies less than a week after another system dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the region.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard watch through late Monday for much of Kansas because of the storm system that's tracking across western Texas into Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. The storm could leave up to 15 inches of snow in some sections of Texas and Kansas, where a storm last week dumped about a foot.

More than a foot of snow is possible from the Texas Panhandle, across the Oklahoma Panhandle and into Kansas and possibly Missouri as the storm moves eastward from the southwestern United States.

Joe Pajor, deputy director of public works in Wichita, Kan., says "It would have been nice if we'd had a few days to recover, to do some equipment rehab." Wichita saw its second-highest snowfall ever Thursday with 14.2 inches.

Weather officials say the storm also could spawn tornadoes Tuesday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Georgia.